Japan’s new car hangover continues in March

Registrations of new cars in Japan dropped a further 11.2 percent in March year-on-year, after sinking 14.7 percent in the month before. This according to consolidated data by Japan’s major industry associations (full table here.) A month ago, we said that the JDM will “drop some more,” and it was an easy call.

Japanese sales tax was lifted in April 2014, and customers rushed to car dealers in the months before to save some money. Compared to these pulled-forward sales, a normal March looks like a disaster. We expect a further decline in April, due to registrations of made-to-order cars bought before the March 31 deadline.

Among Japan’s top three, Honda was the most affected by the new car hangover. In the first three months of the year, Honda’s sales were down 20 percent, followed by Nissan ( – 18.5 percent) and Toyota (-14 percent).